


The Awful Sound of Nothing

by livwrites



Series: Rodolphus Lestrange Duet [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: HPFT, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 03:23:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6498889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livwrites/pseuds/livwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodolphus Lestrange is in Azkaban. Again.</p>
<p>The title is from the last line and a half of the song Quiet by the band Smashing Pumpkins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Awful Sound of Nothing

Rodolphus Lestrange was in Azkaban again. It was just like he had remembered it: cold, dank, and grimy, although there were no Dementors anymore. Apparently it wasn't humane to trap prisoners in their own minds; at least that was the Ministry's official position on the matter. Rodolphus thought that the actual reason was that the Dementors couldn't be trusted after deserting to join the Dark Lord. Not that he missed them or anything; Azkaban wasn't as dreary a place with them gone.  
  
In some ways, though, Rodolphus considered as he sat in his cramped cell, huddled into a ball to keep warm, Azkaban was worse without the Dementors. Since the Ministry had withdrawn them, wizard guards were needed, and they were always in a foul mood. Most of them had lost relatives in the war, or friends. Men, women, and children who had been killed by Rodolphus, Antonin Dolohov, or other Death Eaters.  
  
Like Bella. Rodolphus felt the usual fierce pang of sadness that gripped him when he thought of her. In a few ways, she hadn't been the ideal spouse. Rodolphus, though, couldn't help thinking back to their Hogwarts days, when they had dated. They had been so innocent then, and young, even knowing full well that they were going to be Death Eaters. In fact, they had been looking forward to it. Thinking back on his memories of their early relationship, Rodolphus knew that she had loved him initially, even if she hadn't at the time of her death. Their passionate, physical relationship had been proof of that - stealing kisses at the Slytherin table, holding hands in the hall. She had been a year above him, so they hadn't had any classes together, but several times Rodolphus had found himself daydreaming on what she would've been like in class. He would get distracted by memories of the two of them, cuddling in the common room, or sneaking up to his dorm for a little bit of time alone. Looking back, he knew that she had loved him, initially, anyways. He even thought he could pinpoint when she started to move away from him emotionally.  
  
Towards the end of their Hogwarts years - Bella had been in her seventh year, Rodolphus in his sixth - they had been invited to Malfoy Manor for a meeting. They knew what it what for the moment they had received the letter. Sure enough, when they arrived, the Dark Lord had been waiting for them. Rodolphus thought that it was that exact moment when Bella became attached to the Dark Lord. He had been standing there, waiting, tall and erect, his looks somewhat eroded by the dark magic he was performing, but the aristocratic beauty was still there nonetheless. Rodolphus had seen the effect the sight of the Dark Lord had had on Bella, and hadn't been sure how to react, aside from pretending nothing had happened. Then she had slowly, but surely, grown cold and distant. They had married anyway, Bella because she wanted to make a 'respectable pure-blood marriage' - in other words, she wasn't able to seduce the Dark Lord, so she settled for Rodolphus, who was hopelessly in love.  
  
Then they had fought for the Dark Lord in the First Wizarding War, as it was so called, and what did they get? Prison sentences. After spending who knows how many years in Azkzban - Rodolphus had lost track of the time - they had escaped, for what? Two years of freedom, before Bella was killed, and the half of Rodolphus that remained got locked up again. He felt depressed, listless. He hadn't been able to say goodbye to her, hadn't seen her fall. Of course, he had been knocked out of the battle long before, Stunned by Kingsley Shacklebolt - who apparently was the Minister for Magic now - by the Ravenclaw common room. To be honest, being taken out by an Auror was probably the best way to get knocked out of a fight. In all his years as a Death Eater, Rodolphus had developed a grudging respect for the men and women who were their main opponents. Many other Death Eaters, such as Antonin Dolohov, for example, or Yaxley, were open disdainful. But Bella... Bella hadn't been taken out by an Auror. According to conversations between the guards that he had overhead, Molly Weasley had killed her. Molly Weasley wasn't an Auror, wasn't even an employee of the Ministry, with no training. How had she killed his glorious Bella, the most capable witch he'd ever known? Rodolphus fingered his wedding ring - which he refused to take off, as it was his last link to her - and pondered.  
  
That was all he did these days, it seemed. He sat in his cell, cold and drafty, with the wind howling and rain sweeping in through the cracks in the cell walls, through the bars in the windows. Much as it sucked now, it would get much worse once winter came. The snow itself would come burrowing in. At least the Dementors would give them blankets, probably to enjoy their misery as they tried to use it to keep warm. Rodolphus doubted that the guards in future would do even that.


End file.
